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IAPA: Chavez Overriding Venezuelan Referendum By Anti-Free Speech Decrees
By E&P Staff
Published: March 31, 2008 11:00 PM ET
CHICAGO Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government is trying to
impose by decree measures against freedoms of press and expression
that voters rejected in a referendum last December, the Inter
American Press Association (IAPA) declared as it ended its mid-year
meeting in Caracas.
"The changes and laws that President Chavez seeks to impose against
the will of the people as expressed on December 2, 2007, are
clearly aimed at preventing the free expression of ideas and
opinions, taking control of cultural organizations and forms of
cultural expression, and subordinating the Venezuelan educational
system to dogmatism and universally failed teaching methods clearly
inspired in totalitarianism,
said in a resolution adopted at the conclusion of its three-day
meeting.
IAPA specifically condemned the "illegal seizure" of Radio Caracas
Television's (RCTV) broadcast equipment after the network's
broadcast license was not renewed; the governments "repeated"
refusal to disclose public information to news organizations; its
legal "harassment" of the independent Glob vision television news
channel; and its "discriminatory" placement of government
advertising, typically an important source of income for Latin
American newspapers.
IAPA ended the meeting on a downbeat note, saying in a formal
"Conclusions" report that "freedom of the press in the Americas has
suffered a troubling decline in the last six months, as seen in
court cases and judicial rulings against the media, as well as in
increasing violence against journalists.
It noted that five journalists were killed since IAPA last met in
Miami in October: three in Mexico, one in Argentina and another in
Honduras." In Peru alone, more than 30 journalists were attacked.
"The transfer of power in Cuba from Fidel Castro to his brother
Raul did not improve the status of the 25 journalists still in
prison or the adverse working conditions of independent
journalists,
It also noted with alarm what it said was an increase in the number
of state-owned media, which it called "clear evidence of new
efforts by various governments to control information.
In addition to the seizures of media property in Venezuela, IAPA
said the government of Guyana now has "a monopoly of radio
frequency." Bolivia is creating "chains of state-owned radio and TV
stations," allegedly with the help of Venezuela and Iran, IAPA
said.
IAPA had invited Chavez to speak at the meeting, but after publicly
flirting with the idea, he did not attend. Pro-Chavez Venezuelan
officials have consistently snubbed the organization for years,
saying it is a tool for newspaper bosses, not journalists.
"Unfortunately, all efforts by the IAPA to open up channels of
communication with the government of Venezuela were unfruitful, not
only at this meeting but in prior attempts and missions," IAPA
said.
The government organized a counter-meeting directly across from the
hotel where IAPA was meeting.
The "Latin American Meeting Against Media Terrorism" attracted some
300 delegates from 14 countries, according to the official
Bolivarian News Agency. The meeting's theme, the agency said, was
"the media war waged by domestic and foreign private media against
the Venezuelan and other like-minded leftist governments in the
region."
E&P Staff (letters@editorandpu
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